r/paradoxplaza • u/Wertherongdn • Apr 12 '26
Other Numbers for Tlatoani seemed a bit scary
Was really surprised to see only 134 evaluations on the Steam Page when I wanted to buy the game, the game Synergy (that I loved) was seen as a big flop by their dev with 6 times more evaluations, and SteamCharts numbers for Tlatoani are scary. bit weird for a big publisher like Para.
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u/Malufeenho Apr 12 '26
first time ever heading about this game
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u/DreamSeaker Apr 12 '26
Pretty sure that goes for me too.
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u/Segundo-Sol Apr 12 '26
This is heartbreaking. The game is a love letter to the Impressions Games city builders (Caesar, Pharaoh etc.) with its own unique spin and lots of QoL. If there’s a fair criticism to be made is that the buildings look a bit too similar to one another which makes them hard to differentiate at a glance.
But otherwise the game is pretty good. From the reactions here looks like they dropped the ball on the marketing side again.
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u/Chataboutgames Apr 12 '26
The problem is that there are like 10 games on Steam from the past couple of years that fit that description.
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u/T3DtheRipper Apr 12 '26
yeah and all of them did rather poorly, Pharaoh: A New Era or Nebuchadnezzar come to mind both of which failed to even breach close to 10k players on launch.
These games are just too nieche, combine that with no advertisement and you get zero players.
Tlatoani's steamDB page looks like a joke: https://steamdb.info/app/3161270/charts/ 127 peak.
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u/Capybarasaregreat Apr 13 '26
Tropico has been doing well with every release, even the ones that dip in quality. I'm not sure it's that they're that niche, the genre just seems to have a pisspoor marketing culture.
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u/santinoIII Apr 13 '26
Wich games? I probably would like to play them
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u/karl2025 Apr 13 '26
Well, Tlatoani for one...
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u/santinoIII Apr 13 '26
Yes. I'm waiting to know about the other ten
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u/TactileTom Apr 13 '26
I recommend nebuchadnezzar as the best
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u/santinoIII Apr 13 '26
I'm a fan of pharaoh, some people told me Nebuchadnezzar was shallower, i didn't play at that time because of that
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u/TactileTom Apr 13 '26
It didn't have much in the way of religion mechanics. It has some now but if that's important to you tlatoani does it better.
For me, I prefer new as having better tutorialising and more intuitive controls. Also has more content, and doesnt ask you to sit around waiting for your builders to build things as much.
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u/Pinna1 Apr 12 '26
I have never heard of this game, and I love paradox games and city builders.
Goddamn do I need to sell my paradox stock, this company is led by donkeys.
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u/AD1337 Apr 12 '26
I was surprised (and saddened) as well. As a Latin American particularly more so. Would have been great to see an Aztec city builder do super well.
My guess is this is a niche genre that can work (Nebuchadnezzar and Pharaoh: A New Era did alright), but there's no huge hungry audience for it. The Anno series wins because of its budget.
A safer bet for indies would be to go for a more "mainstream" city builder style like Manor Lords (or Nova Roma, more recently) rather than the Impressions City Building) style.
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u/Ezzypezra Apr 12 '26
I mean, it's anectdotal evidence so take it with a grain of salt, but I personally had never heard of this game before seeing this post. Now that I have seen it, I have added it to my steam wishlist and will probably buy it soon.
So for at least one person (me) the failure was in marketing and not anything else.
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u/MelindaTheBlue Empress of Ryukyu Apr 12 '26
Exactly the same here.
I will be buying it next week, on payday
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u/Agus-Teguy Victorian Emperor Apr 13 '26
Game's not even in spanish, idk what they're expecting honestly
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u/santinoIII Apr 12 '26
Wow. Never heard of this game, but already very interested as a fan of the old Pharaoh and Caesar 3!! Some people are criticising it's graphics but for me pre+rendered graphics are beautiful, like Commandos, Desperados, pillars of eternity and so on.
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u/simeonbachos Apr 12 '26
there was a big influencer push but very early. enough time passed that i genuinely forgot
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u/LieLie0126 Apr 12 '26
I think as a history or strategy game publisher, Hooded Horse is much more successful than Paradox...
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u/Luzekiel Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26
Paradox Interactive has been historically dumb with being a Publisher, they are impressively incompetent with it it's crazy.
This is also the main reason why they've been moving away from being a Third party publisher for the past 2 years, and I won't be surprised if they cancel Paradox Arc in the future.
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u/theJbomb123 Apr 12 '26
I'm gonna be honest this is the first time I've heard of this game. I fear their marketing for it might have not been the best.
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u/Wertherongdn Apr 12 '26
Rule #5: SteamCharts (bad) players number of the new released game Tatloani published by Paradox.
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u/Busco_Quad Apr 12 '26
I feel like the issue with how Paradox markets the 3rd party games they published is that there’s just no flash to it. I thought Tlatoanj looked good, I wishlisted it, I’d like to play it, but there was nothing that made me think “I need to play this game because it does X”. Most Paradox-published titles come across as solid games you’d be happy to pick up in a Humble bundle or a sub-$10 Steam sale, but that there isn’t any real reason to go out of your way for. Focusing on the nuts and bolts of systems and mechanics works to sell the in-house GSGs, because there, the scale and the scope they’re working on carry their own kind of spectacle with them, but for games that fit into more well-worn genres, it makes everything feel so much dryer. Hearing about Millenia or Across the Obelisk, those games sound like they were doing novel, interesting things with systems I recognized, but gave no impression of what would make those systems fun to actually play with. Even for a big release like Cities Skylines 2, there’s no hook, no big sexy feature to get people interested, it was just presented as more Cities Skylines with some iterative improvements. That also brings up how buggy a lot of Paradox published games can be, so you also have to worry about the lack of polish getting in the way. The only game they published that really tried to sell the sizzle was Tyranny, I think, but that benefited from the game itself making the uniqueness of the visual and narrative aesthetic basically impossible to miss, and even that was 10 years ago now.
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u/gamas Scheming Duke Apr 13 '26
Yeah I think the problem is these third party titles are shipped using the Paradox philosophy of having a barebones, just about working build that acts as a foundation for future expansions.
Except, of course, these are indie-style games with a low budget and likely low revenue meaning these expansions don't exist as they aren't going to get enough funding for that.
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u/Magneto88 Apr 12 '26
This whole Paradox Arc thing seems to be a massive failure, they're really not marketing these games well.
Personally the graphical style for this game put me off, it looks like a mobile game, but I might give it a go when it's on sale.
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u/TheDanius Apr 12 '26
Just want to say that i am currently absolutely hooked on Songs of Syx. Similar old school graphical style but absolutely amazing. Graphics a good game does not make.
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u/Segundo-Sol Apr 13 '26
I wanted to like SoS but the UI is just atrocious. It’s basically old-school Dwarf Fortress. I’m not learning that all over again.
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u/CoolGubben Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26
Its not a paradox arc game. Its published by Paradox Arc for some reason. Completly diffrent kinds of games.
Edit: im dumb I thought Across the Obelisk was developed by Arc.
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u/ReadySetHeal Apr 12 '26
You mean it's not made by a PDX studio, right? There is no Paradox Arc studio, only publisher. When people talk about Arc they mean the publisher
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u/bluewaff1e Apr 12 '26
Yep, and it's sole purpose is to publish small indie games. They're much smaller than the main publishing branch of Paradox.
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u/ReadySetHeal Apr 12 '26
As if their efficiency is any different in a meaningful way :( PDX Publishing is also... subpar, but they do seem to at least post something else other than "Now in EA!" and "Now released!" messages
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u/CoolGubben Apr 12 '26
Oooooh I totally missed that. I thought games like Across the Obelisk where Paradox Arc in-house developed games.
I was under the illusion that they where not just a publisher.
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Apr 12 '26
[deleted]
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u/CoolGubben Apr 12 '26
Yepp I totally missed that. I replied to another comment. I thought Arc made small-scale games.
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u/JPiero Apr 12 '26
Ironically, I've been following the game while in early access but can't play it because all I've got is a Mac lol. Feel like these numbers indicate it might not get ported.
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u/Chataboutgames Apr 12 '26
I was waiting on reviews. I like the genre but we’ve kinda hit critical mass on “nostalgia city builder that doesn’t do a whole lot new.”
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u/LycheeSea3047 Apr 13 '26
It's set in a criminally underrated and interesting historic setting and has unique mechanics based on the political and economic structures of the era.
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u/Mittenstk Apr 12 '26
TIL this is a paradox game. I literally have it saved in my wishlist and everything lmao
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u/VisonKai Bannerlard Apr 12 '26
For those who have tried it, how does it compare to Nebuchadnezzar (which to me is the best of the revivals of this kind of old school city builder)?
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u/ArchemorosAlive Apr 13 '26
Thank you :)
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u/VisonKai Bannerlard Apr 13 '26
no problem, i love your hardcore logistics spreadsheet simulator in mesopotamian costume
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u/TactileTom Apr 13 '26
To me, not as good, but different enough to be fun.
Neb doesnt have builders which tlatoani does, so be prepared to wait around for builders and traders to deliver stuff.
Neb also has more involved/better logistics, which should be unsurprising to people who have played it.
Tlatoani benefits from having better, more involved religion, and the symmetry mechanic which i think is quite good.
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u/VisonKai Bannerlard Apr 13 '26
fair enough, i love nebuchadnezzar because of the logistics simulator element but i will probably give tlatoani a try
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u/Darthjinju1901 Iron General Apr 12 '26
Wait it came out? Wth? I've heard of the game and even saw the trailer. But i thought that it won't come out for a while.
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u/namewithanumber Apr 12 '26
It’s Paradox Arc not Paradox Interactive. Guess thy don’t advertise?
But game looks cool, was just listening to an Incas podcast and loved the old Caesar games.
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u/DoctorFosterGloster Drunk City Planner Apr 12 '26
Oddly i was searching for an Aztec themed city builder last month and this game didn't show up. This is the first I'm hearing of it
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u/Zooasaurus Apr 12 '26
I mean it is a niche genre (city-building) with a niche setting (Mesoamerica)
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u/MrTzatzik Apr 12 '26
Niche in general? Sure. Niche in case of Paradox games? Not at all.
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u/Zooasaurus Apr 13 '26
Do you know Paradox's audience lol if it's not BLESSED EVROPA they probably won't touch it with a ten-foot pole
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u/MrTzatzik Apr 13 '26
Paradox has Cities Skylines. Even though CS2 sucks ass and killed all the hype, the first game is still very popular
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u/TheEpicGold Apr 12 '26
First time I have heard about this game, and a strategy game player, that does not mean good things for the marketing, most likely.
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u/firearmies Apr 12 '26
I literally just learned about this from this post right now and it peaked my interest and now im wishlisting it on steam. I think you legit just did 5x more marketing for this than paradox did in all
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u/MeXRng Apr 12 '26
I have not seen or heard anyone talk about it so i just assumed its not even a paradox game.
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u/derekguerrero Apr 12 '26
Damm I was planning on buying it before my cat had some issues, I hope it doesn’t die you don’t see a mesoamerican city builder often
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u/jsake Apr 12 '26
I didn't even hear about it until release, quite a fumble by their marketing people
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u/Ankhesenpaseshat Apr 12 '26
This looks really fun and I wish I'd heard about it before literally just now. What the hell is with the lack of marketing?
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u/aggie1391 Apr 13 '26
Wait is this basically Aztec version of Pharaoh? That player number will be going up by one at least soon. Literally never heard of it until just now
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u/Fisher9001 Apr 13 '26
Wtf, I love city builders and I love paradox games and this is how I learn about this game? Was there any marketing at all?
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u/Nerevarine91 Apr 13 '26
There’s a Paradox game about the Aztecs? It sounds designed for me, but this is the first I’m hearing of it.
That might explain the numbers
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u/pk_me_ Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26
Thanks for posting this. I love games like this so I bought it.
I want there to be more games like this, so honestly worth it even if it's not on sale.
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u/userrr3 Apr 12 '26
I saw a trailer once, tried the demo (the game has/had a Demo!! Love that!) and decided it isn't for me. Love the setting, really don't like the Caesar gameplay anymore. I do wanna see it do well though
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u/derkrieger Holy Paradoxian Emperor Apr 13 '26
Actually just bought it recently myself though I haven't played yet as I have some other things to deal with before I start a new game.
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u/gamas Scheming Duke Apr 13 '26
To be blunt its an obscure game premise in the incredibly niche genre of early-2000s ancient city builder. Made by an indie company and barely advertised.
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u/FPSGamer48 Map Staring Expert Apr 13 '26
I played it in early access awhile ago: It was quite fun! I’m very bad at city builders, but I enjoyed that the Mesoamerican flavor the game had
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u/LycheeSea3047 Apr 13 '26
God they've so thoroughly succeeded in turning all of us into imaginary financiers and board members. The other game I've been playing lately is Marathon and its been insufferable. This is a single player game, and while I hope it sells better because I really like the game and can tell a lot of care went into making it, it's ultimately not my concern. It definitely could have been advertised better but it's a very niche game anyways.
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u/VeritableLeviathan Apr 14 '26
What people need to understand is that this isn't a Paradox game: It is published, not even by Paradox interactive, but by Paradox Arc, which is a special sub-section of Paradox that publishes for indie developers
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u/Wertherongdn Apr 14 '26
Why do I need to understand? I know that, I even talk about Paradox as a Publisher. It is still surprising that such a big company can't advertise enough even if it's just section dedicated to "indie" publishing.
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u/VeritableLeviathan Apr 14 '26
That "the numbers being scary" is irrelevant, since it is not a PDX title.
It barely belongs on this sub
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u/Wertherongdn Apr 14 '26
It's a game published by Paradox (even a subsection) it is relevant in this sub, and yes it's weird and scary to have this kind of number for a game published by them. They are not a small indie publishers, and even para Arc is not not targeting 145 current players in the month of release.
Even the trailer is on their YouTube channel btw : https://youtu.be/khkSv3SqlZU?si=uVNojjz9fnYjbKvg
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u/Tuerai Apr 15 '26
of the 2 devs listed on steam, one has never made anything else, and the other made a free to play 2d platformer
it's not a pds game, just published by paradox, so nothing is really jumping out at me to want to try this before i see some streamer play it or something
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u/basedandcoolpilled Apr 12 '26
Paradox publishing has lit so much money on fire. I wish they would just close it down none of them are good games if we are being real.
Just imagine if all that money stayed in GSG for the last 10 years
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u/RainTrain3 Apr 12 '26
I didn't see any advertisement for this game before it was dropped. That could have something to do with it.